Live Steam RR

[Ritchie200]

Before the kids came along, I used to volunteer with this group.  It is a 12" gauge live steam RR just outside of St. Louis.  There were many old timers there who were engineers on actual steam trains.  These guys were pushing 80 and could make those little engines talk!  If you are not familiar with the steam controls, think timing advance on your car, only it is done manually on these little engines.  When they run on the weekends, there will sometimes be 3 trains on the track at once.  They have sidings since it is essentially a single track run, but they are scheduled like clockwork.  They have a station master who schedules the trains, conductors on each train (in radio contact with the master), engineers, and brakemen (who relay information from the conductors to the engineers).  All runs are documented to the minute when they reach certain areas on the track.  And they are dead serious about it - you screw around and you clear brush and haul roadbed until they think they can trust you again (a long time!).  The track is about a mile long, but current efforts are under way to double it.  It was a lot of hard work, but it was too cool!  Unfortunately I have less than 0 time now, so we just go and ride about once or twice a year.

This is a link to the rolling stock showing their 10 steam engines!!!  Click on the engine number for pics.  If you are the tiniest RR fan, you gotta check this out!  They keep these guys spit-polished clean - a HARD job for a steam engine!

http://www.wfprr.com/roster/index.html
Click at the bottom for more info.

Here is the history per an article in Live Steam, with some cool pics.

http://www.wfprr.com/history.pdf

Jim

[Dynaflow]

 My uncle (pass years ago, great guy) was an engineer for SP for a number of years. He also was a self taught machinist and was getting bare castings to build scale model live steam engines. He built a early steam tractor (don't know the scale, it was probably about 2 foot long and had the big spoked steel wheels. He completed before he died a scale model live steam engine (propane fired) that was about 6 feet long, maybe 18 inches or more high (the engine fit in the back of his pickup). They'd take them out to a scale steam locomotive park and pull 20-30 adults on some small passenger cars. Heck of a lot of torque in that little dude. Expensive little toys, but it was pretty perfectly scaled down in size and had all the working controls of the big engines. Steam engines are amazing to see and hear run.

Regards,

Dyna

[billcreller]

I have an aviation friend who is into that type railroad stuff. He has a steam engine he rides on, but I don't know what gauge the track is. I think he is in a group in the Flint/Pontiac Michigan area.  I told me his engine cost him 15 grand. It's certainly not a cheap hobby.

[supro66]

I have been here in AMISH land a few times

http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/index.php

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